


Notice

by crueltyland



Series: They Didn't Know [1]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: BAMF Bilbo, Gen, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protection, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-12
Updated: 2015-05-12
Packaged: 2018-03-30 07:28:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3928147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crueltyland/pseuds/crueltyland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Bilbo ran forth to protect a fallen Thorin at the cliffs, his past met him, and the dwarrow had nothing left to protect themselves from by the time they came through the fire. This is what happened after the docile hobbit snapped and decimated Azog, his men and their wargs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Notice

Descending from the carrock, the dwarrow looked at the hobbit, really looked at him, for the first time. 

Thorin noticed how Bilbo's short stature meant he was always looking up, scanning the territory around him.

Dwalin noticed how his muscles were not tensed in fear, as he had long presumed these past months, but were in fact rippling under carefully controlled patience.

Balin noticed Bilbo tapping on his leg as he walked. It took him almost half a day to realise that the hobbit would tap out fifteen times before checking that everyone was still together.

Fili noticed his feet. He regretted ever thinking them funny or clumsy. He noticed the grip changing from the stone steps to the gravelly earth. He noticed the soft padding and careful placement.

Kili noticed the hobbits hips. The blade there lay, cleaned and sheathed, with the forearm of its wielder ever remaining close and vigilant.

Ori noticed Bilbo's fingers. Soft and small, with a grip that cherished a delicate page and nails that tore flesh from bone.

Nori noticed his silence. He noticed how the hobbit made no sound when walking. He noticed that, even when running, he could not hear the hobbit pant for breath or hear his feet stomp the earth.

Dori noticed his clothes. Once fine and perfectly respectable, now torn and bloody. Ripped, ruined and stained beyond repair.

Bofur noticed the hobbits mouth. No longer smiling or joking. Not even speaking when he tried to strike up a conversation.

Bifur noticed his wound. He damned himself for not seeing it before. A wound so deep that Bilbo's real self had been locked away, just like Bifur's axe had done.

Bombur noticed Bilbo's appetite. Ravenous and feral in his consumption, though never requesting more, he devoured any offering. 

Gloin noticed his hair. Bloodied and knotted, once golden and soft. He noticed the black stain of blood that was not the hobbits own and how he made no move to remove it from those curls.

Oin noticed most of all. Oin noticed the twisted ankle, though Bilbo did not limp. He noticed the laceration in the thigh, still bleeding after half a day. He noticed the split lip and eyebrow. He noticed the broken ribs and dislocated shoulder. He noticed the scars more vividly than all. They littered the hobbits back and legs, down his arms to the elbow. They were healed, though an angry pink and jagged. Oin remembered seeing wounds like those that never had the opportunity to heal. Oin saw a survivor of an Orc Pack, and remembered the fallen.

Gandalf saw his own failure. He saw Bilbo snapping to protect another, as he had done once before. He saw the hobbit retreat into his shell and lock away his pain, as he had done before. He saw the same agony in Bilbos eyes as he had done when he found a fauntling standing alone in front of the bodies of his parents, in a burned out smial, surrounded by orcs and wargs. He saw his own failure to protect.


End file.
